mcp_bfs/MCP_USAGE.md

Swiss BFS API MCP Server

Overview

This MCP server provides access to ALL data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS), not just population data. The BFS maintains comprehensive statistics on:

• Population and Demographics
• Territory and Environment
• Work and Income
• National Economy
• Prices and Inflation
• Industry and Services
• Agriculture and Forestry
• Energy
• Construction and Housing
• Tourism
• Mobility and Transport
• Social Security
• Health
• Education and Science
• Crime and Criminal Justice

Installation

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Run the MCP server:

python bfs_mcp_server.py

The server communicates via stdio and can be integrated with any MCP-compatible client.

Available Tools

1. bfs_list_datacubes

Browse available datacubes in the API hierarchy.

• path: Category path (e.g., "px-x-01" for population, "" for root)
• language: de/fr/it/en

2. bfs_get_metadata

Get detailed metadata about a specific datacube including dimensions and available values.

• datacube_id: The datacube identifier (e.g., "px-x-0102030000_101")
• language: de/fr/it/en

3. bfs_query_data

Query any BFS datacube with custom filters.

• datacube_id: The datacube identifier
• filters: Array of filter objects with code, filter type, and values
• format: Output format (csv/json/json-stat/json-stat2/px)
• language: de/fr/it/en

4. bfs_search

Search for datacubes by topic keywords.

• keywords: Search terms (e.g., "inflation", "education", "health")
• language: de/fr/it/en

5. bfs_get_config

Get API configuration and limits.

• language: de/fr/it/en

Example Usage Flow

1. Search for a topic:

   bfs_search(keywords="inflation")
   

2. Browse a category:

   bfs_list_datacubes(path="px-x-05")  # Price statistics
   

3. Get metadata for a specific datacube:

   bfs_get_metadata(datacube_id="px-x-0502010000_104")
   

4. Query data with filters:

   bfs_query_data(
     datacube_id="px-x-0502010000_104",
     filters=[
       {"code": "Zeit", "filter": "top", "values": ["12"]}
     ],
     format="csv"
   )
   

Category Codes

Main statistical categories in the BFS system:

• px-x-01: Population
• px-x-02: Territory and Environment
• px-x-03: Work and Income
• px-x-04: National Economy
• px-x-05: Prices
• px-x-06: Industry and Services
• px-x-07: Agriculture and Forestry
• px-x-08: Energy
• px-x-09: Construction and Housing
• px-x-10: Tourism
• px-x-11: Mobility and Transport
• px-x-13: Social Security
• px-x-14: Health
• px-x-15: Education and Science
• px-x-19: Crime and Criminal Justice

Integration with LLM Clients

This MCP server is designed to work with any MCP-compatible LLM client. The server handles natural language understanding through the client, providing structured access to Swiss federal statistics.

API Documentation

The underlying API is a PxWeb implementation (developed by Statistics Sweden).

• Base URL: https://www.pxweb.bfs.admin.ch/api/v1/{language}/
• Official BFS Website: https://www.bfs.admin.ch